moeboid to blend into genuine
plasmodia. At maturity the plasmodium gives rise to numerous minute
divisions, each of which may lengthen in a direction perpendicular to
the surface and bear a spore at the tip.

The homologies between the structures just described and the
fructification of the ordinary slime-mould are somewhat obscure, if
indeed any really exist. Are these minute reproductive bodies
spores?--their behavior on germination is unique; are they
sporangia?--the arrested development they exhibit is none the less
puzzling. Perhaps the sporiferous pillars represent incipient stipes,
the spores the uncombined fragments of what might otherwise have
coalesced at the summit of the pillar to form a true sporangium.[16]

Several species have been recognized, all referable probably to one or
two, or at most, four forms. That universally recognized alike in the
literature of the past and in recent studies is,--

1. CERATIOMYXA FRUTICULOSA (_Muell._) _Macbr._

PLATE I., Figs. 7 and 7 _a_.

1729. _Puccinia ramosa, bifurcata_, etc. Micheli, p. 213, Tab. 92,
Fig. 2.
1775. _Byssus fruticulosa_ Mueller, in _Fl. Dan._, t. 718, Fig. 2.
1778. _Tremella hydnoidea_ Jacquin, _Misc._, Vol. I., t. 16.
1783. _Clavaria puccinia_ Batsch, _Elench. Fung._, p. 139, Fig. 19.
1791. _Puccinia byssoides_ Gmelin, _Syst. Naturae_, p. 1462.
1791. _Clavaria byssoides_ Bulliard, _Champ. de la France_, t. 415,
Fig. 2.
1794. _Isaria mucida_ Pers., Roemer, _N. Mag. Bot._, I., p. 121.
1801. _Isaria mucida_ Pers., _Syn. Meth._, p. 688.
1805. _Ceratium hydnoides_ Alb. & Schw., _Consp. Fung._, p. 258.
1811. _Ceratiomyxa porioides_ (A. & S.) Schroet., _Mycet._, p. 26,
_var._
1829. _Ceratium hydnoides_ Fries, _Syst. Myc._, III., p. 294.
1872. _Ceratium hydnoides_ Wor. & Fam., _Mem. Acad. Imp._, Petersburg.
1887. _Ceratium hydnoides_ DeBary, _Comp. Morph. Fung._, p. 432.
1889. _Ceratiomyxa mucida_ Schroeter, _Engl. u. Prantl Nat. Pflanz._,
I., i., p. 16.
1893. _Ceratiomyxa mucida_, Pers., Macbr., _Bull. Nat. Hist. Iowa_,
II., p. 114.
1894. _Ceratiomyxa mucida_ Schroet., Lister, _Mycetozoa_, p. 25.

Plasmodium in rotten wood, white or nearly transparent; when fruiting,
forming on the substratum mould-like patches composed of the minute
sporiferous pillars, generally in clusters of three or more together;
spores white, ovoid, or ellipsoidal, smooth, 10-12x6 mu.